Vending machine



' VENDING MACHINE Filed April 5, 1940 s Sheets- Sheet 1 h! L .M

INVENTOR ARDON A. BRADT.

7 I BY HIS AT RNEY Dec. 23, 1941.

A. A. BRADT 2,267,600

VENDING MACHINE Filed April 3., 1940 3 Sheets- Sheet 2 Elven-E07;

ARDON A. BRADT.

Dec. 23, 1941. A A; B ADT 2,267,600 H VENDING MACHINE Filed April 5, 1940 3 SheetS-Sh eet 3 V Ezzfenim," ARDON A. BRADT.

Patented Dec. 23, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VENDING MACHINE Ardon A. Bradt, Niagara Falls, N. Y.

Application April 3, 1940, Serial No. 327,650

6 Claims. c1. 312-47) This invention relates to coin or token-operated vending machines and has for an object the provision of improved machines of the character referred to.

In the drawings, which are appended to aid in the understanding of the invention,

Figure 1 is a front view of the exterior of a machine embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation, partly broken away, of a mechanism embodyingthe presentinvention;

Figure 3 is a side view, partly in elevation and partly in section, of a mechanism embodying the present invention;

Figure 4 is a side view, in elevation, of a mechanism embodying the present invention;

, Figure 5 is a rear view, in elevation, of a mechanism embodying the present invention;

Figure 6 is a front view, in elevation, of -a mechanism embodying the present invention;

and

Figure 7 is a plan view, taken as indicated by the line VIIVII of Figure 3, of a mechanism embodying the present invention.

The machine illustrated in the drawings is of the type that dispenses tokens, coupons or fortune telling cards, but it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to machines dispensing such articles because the drawings are for illustrative purposes and the machines can be adapted to dispense merchandise of substantially any description without departing from the scope of the invention. In the present disclosure, ,the term token will be used for simplicity of language, with the understanding that that=- term shall means not only tokens of the usual sort, but also coupons of all sorts, fortune telling cards, and merchandise of the nature that can be dispensed by a machine.

Figure 1 shows the exterior of a machine comprising a case I having a coin slot 2 at the top,

with the coin-operated release lever I shown in Figure 2. When a coin of the proper denomination has been inserted in the slot 2, the release lever I0 is rotated counter-clockwise about the shaft II on which it is mounted and, as illustrated, permits the cam I2 to rotated counterclockwise about the shaft I3 by the handle 8,

which is shown in Figure 1, but is not shown in Figure 2.

Located behind the cam [2, as viewed in Figure 2, ,is a lever I4 having a pin I5 projecting outwardly therefrom and rigidly attached thereto. Another pin I6 projects inwardly from, and is rigidly attached to, the cam I2. Between the cam I2 and the lever I4 is located a notched lever I1, and this notched lever is so positioned that the pin I5 on the lever I4 and the pin I6 on the cam I2 are embraced by the legs I8 and III of the lever I'I. Thus. when the cam I2 is rotated counter-clockwise, the pin I6 urges the notched lever I I in a clockwise direction and the movement thus produced causes the lever I4 to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction by virtue of the engagement of the leg I9 of the lever I! with the pin I5, which is attached to the lever I4.

A link 20 connects the lever I4 with the reset lever 2|, which is pivoted at 22. Thus, movement position, the opening 21 in the slide 26a permits a token to drop from the stack and rest on the plate 29, which supports the movable slide 26a.

The lever I4, which is referred to above in connectlon with Figure 2, is mounted on and pinned to the shaft I3, as shown in Figure 3. This shaft I3 is supported at one end by the frame member 32 and at the other end by the frame member a members.

same direction by virtue of the operation of levers I! and I4, even though the cam I2 is not fixed on the shaft I-3.

Also mounted on the shaft I3 are the levers 34,

p i 35 and 36, which are fixed to the said shaft, and Q levers 3T, 38, 39, 40, 4|, 42 and 43, which are rotatable with respect to the said shaft, all of which are shown in Figure 5. The levers 31, 38 and 39 are joined by the member 44 to function as a unit.

The lever 34, which is fixed on the shaft I3,

the pin 84 which is fixed on the lever 43.

operates the coin release mechanism briefly referred to hereinabove and is not of particular concern in this invention. The lever 35, which also is fixed on the shaft I3, serves to spin the reels 49, 41 and 48 by means of other levers not shown in Figure 3, but which are shown in Figure 5 and referred to again below.

Each of the reels 46, 41 and 48 is independently rotatable on the shaft 49, and each reel has attached to it two notched disks. As shown in Figure 3, the notched disks 5| and 52 are attached to the reel 48; the notched disks 53 and 54 are attached to the reel 41; and the notched disks.

I joined, is connected to the rotatable shaft ;6I by means of the slotted lever 62 and the pin 83. Also mounted on the shaft GI and fixed thereto are the notched disks 84, B5, 68, 61, 68 and 89, which control the operation of the token-dispensing slides 26a, 28b, 28c, 26d, 25c and 28f (Figure '7) associated with the token magazines 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, 28c and 281. g

The lever 38 contacts with the pin II, which is fastened to the lever 43, and, as the shaft I3 is rotated by the handle 8, causes the lever 43 to rotate about the shaft I3. Rotation of the lever 43 causes the arm 12, which is fastened thereto, to move forward and also causes the spring 13, which has one end attached to the lever 43 and the other end attached to the pin 14,."to 'be stretched. Rotation of the lever 43' also causes the gear train 15 to be set in motion by means of the link 16 that connects the lever 43 with the cam crank 11 fixed to the shaft 18 of the gear train I5. Thus, the gear train 15 is tensioned by the stretched spring 13 by virtue of the link I6 that connects the lever 43 with the cam crank H, which is fixed to the shaft I8 of the said ear train, and, as the operation of the machine continues, the gear train is set into motion in the opposite direction by the said spring I3; The velocity of the operation of the gear train-15 is controlled by the vane I9 on the shaft 89,

Rotatably mounted on the shaft 8|, which extends from the frame 32 on the one side to the frame 33 on the other side, is a wide U-shaped lever 82, which is connected to the lever-lifting arm 12 by a coil spring 83. Movement of the lever 43 causes the arms I2 to pull the U-shaped lever 82 by means of the spring 83, which connects these two members. The pull exterted upon the U-shaped lever 82 by the spring 83 causes the U-shaped lever 82 to rotate about the shaft 8|, upon which it is mounted,and come under the ends of the levers 31, 38, 39, 49, 4I and 42 just after they have been raised by the arm I2. When the U-shaped lever '82 has moved under the levers 31, 38, 39, 48, 4| and 42, it remains there and holds those levers out of engagement with the notched disks 5|, 52, 53, 54, 55 and 58 until the reversed direction of operation of the gear train 15 causes the lever 43 to move back toward its original position and bring into engagement with the U-shapedlever 82 by means of The backward movement of the lever 43, through the engagement of the pin 84 thereon and the lever 82,'causes the lever 82 to be pushed back to its original position, whereby it moves out from under the levers-37, 38, 39, 49, 4| and '42 and permits them to re-engage with the'notch'ed wheels 5|, 52, 53, 54, 55 and 56. g

8 of the machine.

original position also removes the detent lever 81 from under the cam I2 by virtue of the engagement of the leg 88 of the U-shaped lever 82 with arm 89 of the detent lever 81. The original movement of the U-shaped lever 82 removes the leg 88 thereof from engagement with the arm 89 of the detent lever 81 and permits the spring 99 to pull the detent lever under the cam lever I2 when it has been rotated by the operating handle When under the cam I2, the detent lever 81 prevents the cam I2 from returning to its original position until the cycle of operation of the machine has been completed. As

the cycle of operation approaches completion, the

'leg 88 of the U-shaped lever 82 comes into en- Figures 4, 5 and 6 show, among other things,

the mechanism by which the dispensing slides 28a, 28b, 23c, 28d, 26c and 26f are reset at the beginning of the operation of the machine. As

. illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, the dispensing slide The restoration of the .U-shaped lever 82..to its ,75

28a is the dispensing position. The reset lever 2|, immediately upon the operation of the machine being started, moves from the position shown in Figure 3 until it engages and pushes forward the reset bar pusher 24, which in turn urges the reset bar 93 against the leg 94 of whichever of the slides 26a, 26b, 26c, 25d, 28c or 26! (in this case 25a) that was left in the dispensing position by the previous operation of the machine, and pushes that slide into thenon-dispening position under its respective stack, 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, 28c or 28 (in this case 2811). At the same time the reset bar 93 is bein pushed forward, the link '16 connecting the lever 43 with the cam crank 11 rotates the cam crank 11 and permits the cam follower 95 to be urged to the lowest portion of the cam crank 11 by the spring 96. Such movement of the cam follower 95 causes the lever 91 to be moved into a position behind the reset bar 93 by virtue of the toggle joint 88. When the lever 91 is in the position behind the reset bar 93 just referred to, it prevents the reset bar 93 from being pulled away from the reset legs 94.

.As described hereinabove, the rotation of the cam crank 11 just described also causes the gear train 15 to be set in motion against the action of the spring I3 (Figure 4) The link 16, and therefore also the cam crank H, are driven by the lever 43 (Figure 4), which in turn is driven by the lever 36 fastened to the end of the shaft I3 (Figure 5).

The lever 36 drives the lever 43 until the pin I6 on the cam I2 (Figure 2) has urged the lever I! to the point where the pin I6 no longer can urge the lever I1, whereupon the pin I6 passes by the leg I8 of the lever I1 and into a position on the opposite side of the leg I8.

The lever -I I, being no longer urged by the cam I2, no longer urges the lever I4 by the engagement therewith of the pin I5, and consequently the shaft I3, to which the lever I4 is pinned, no longer is rotated in a counter-clockwise direction (Figure 2), but, on the other hand, is quickly returned to its original position by the contraction of the spring 99, one end of which is fastened to the lever 35, which is pinned to the shaft I3, and the other end of which is attached to the bottom frame of the machine.

The shaft I3 beingreturned to its original position, the lever 36 also is out of engagement with and away from the lever 43. Consequently, the spring13, which was stretched by the rotation of the lever 43, pulls the lever in the opposite direction and back to its original position. The return of the lever 43 to its original position isnot free, howevenbut is controlled by thejvane 19 ofthe gear train 15. r

At the same moment the disengagement of the pin I6 on the cam I2 with the leg I8 of the lever I1 takes place, the lever 35 (Figure 3) has been rotated by the shaft I3 to such a position that the pin |I has traveled to the opposite end of .the slot I02 of the lever I03 and has caused the lever I03 to rotate counter-clockwise about the pin I04. The counter-clockwise movement of the lever I03 causes the lever I05 to rotate in a clockwise direction about the shaft I06 and hence also causes the lever I01, which is connected to the lever I05 in a slightly offset position, to rotate about the shaft I06 until the notch I08 in the lever I01, engages with a tooth in the notched wheel 52.

At the moment the notch I08 in the lever I01 has engaged a tooth of the notched wheel 52, the lever 40 has already been rotated by the shaft I3 so that the lever 40 is out of engagement with the notched wheel 52, and the lever 31 is out of engagement with the notched wheel 5|. Thus,

the reel 46 and the notched wheels 5| and 52,

which are connected to the reel 46, are free to rotate on the shaft 49. The disengagement of the levers 31 and 40 with the notched wheels 5| and 52, respectively, is effected by the movement of the arm 12, which is fixed to the lever 43 (Figure 3), from the position shown in Figure 5 into urging engagement with the upwardly projecting legs of the levers 31 and 40. As referred to above, the movement of the arm 12 causes the U-shaped lever 82 to be pulled by the spring 83 into a position under the rearwardly projecting legs of the levers 31 and 40, which have been raised by the urging of the upwardly projecting legs by the arm 12 as described above. Having taken the position under the rearwardly projecting legs of the levers 31 and 40, the U- shaped lever 82 serves to hold the levers 31 and 40 out of engagement with the notched wheels 5| and 52, respectively, because the reverse movement of the arm 12 takes place sooner than that of the U-shaped lever 82. It should be noted here that although only the relationship of the lever 31 with the notched disk 5| and the relationship of the lever 40 with the notched disk 52 have been described in connection with Figure 5, the same relationship exists between the lever 38 and the notched disk53, the lever 39 and the notched disk 55, the lever 4| and the notched disk 54, and the lever 42 and the notched disk 56, all of which are shown in Figure 3.

Similarly, it should be noted here that although only the relationship of the notched lever I01 with the notched disk 52 has been described in connection with Figure 5, levers similar to notched lever I01 and joined thereto to act as a unit have the same relationship to the notched disks 54 and 56 (Figure 3) and perform the same function as lever I01. I

When, as described above, the notched lever I01 is in engagement with a tooth of the notched disk 52, and the levers 31, 30, 39, 40, 4| and 42 are held out of engagement with their respectively co-acting disks 5|, 52, 53, 54, 55 and 56 by the U-shaped lever 82, the shaft I3, to which the lever 35 is attached, is snapped back to its original position by the spring 99.

The snapping back of the shaft I3 and the attached lever 35 causes the pin IElI to quickly rotate the lever I03 in a clockwise direction and thus quickly rotate the notched lever Eel, which engages a tooth of the notched disk 52, in a counter-clockwise direction. The rapid counterclockwise movement of the notched lever I01 causes the notched disk 52 and the reel 46 and notched disk 5|, all of which are connected to act as a unit, to rotate rapidly and freely.

At the instant the notched disk 52 and the corresponding notched disks 54 and 56 are spun, the return movement of the gear train 15 is begun. The return movement of the gear train 15 causes the U-shaped lever 82, throughthe operation of the lever 43, to release first the levers 40, 4| and 42 in rapid succession, but not simultaneously, and the release of those levers brings to rest in the same sequence the reels 46, 41 and 40 by virtue of the engagement of the levers 40, 4| and 42 with the notched disks 52, 54 and 56, respectively.

When the reels 46, ll and 58 have been brought to rest by the levers 40, 5| and 42, respectively, the levers 31, 30 and 39, acting as a unit, are released by the U-shaped lever 82 and re-engage with the notched disks 5!, 53 and 55 (Figure 3).

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, it will be noted that the notched disk 55 contains radial notches of different depths and that the notches are of suificient width to freely receive the arm I09 of the lever 39. The disks 5| and 53 are notched the same as notched disk 55 and on each of the levers 31 and 33, which are united to the lever 39, there is an arm similar to the arm I09 of the lever 39 that engages the notched disks 5| and 53, respectively.

As described above, the lever 31 is connected to the rotatable shaft SI by means of a pin 63 and the slotted lever 52, which is fixed to the shaft 5|. Also mounted on and fixed to the shaft 6| are the slotted disks 64, 65, 66, 61, 68 and 69. These slotted disks are so positioned on the shaft 6| that never more than one slot at a time is horizontal, and thus only one of the dispensing slides 29a, 26b, 260, 2603, 25c and 251 can operate at a time by entering the slot in its respectively cooperating disk on the shaft 5 I.

The particular token-dispensing slide to operate at a given operation of the machine is determined by the positions the reels 46, 41 and 48, and consequently also the positions the notched disks 5|, 53 and 55, take when they come to rest after they have been spun freely.

If the reels 46, 41 and 48 come to rest in such positions that the notched disks 5|, 53 and 55 line up to permit the arm I09 of the lever 39 or the corresponding arm of either of the levers 31 or 38 to enter the shallowest slot, the lever 31 will move a corresponding distance and, by virtue of its being connected to the shaft 6|, will rotate the shaft 6| the least amount, and will position one of the slotted disks 64, 65, 66, 61, 68 or 69 so that its slot will be horizontal and facing the dispensing slide 20a, 26b, 26c, 26d, 26c or 26 that is opposite that particular disk. In the particular arrangement of parts illustrated in the appended drawings, the dispensing slide 26a is operated when the lever 31 is permitted to travel the smallest distance.

In the event that the slotted disks 5|, 53 and 55 so line up, when the reels 46, 41 and 48 come -to rest, that they will permit the levers 31, 30

and 39, respectively, to enter the deepest slots, the lever 31 will move the greatest distance and consequently rotate the shaft 6| the greatest amount. The particular arrangement of parts illustrated in the appended drawings permits the dispensing slide 26 to enter the slot in the disk 69 when the shaft 6| is rotated the greatest amount.

It will be obvious from the foregoing description that the distance the lever 3'! can move is controlled by that one of the slotted disks 53 or 55 that presents the shallowest notch of the three for entrance of the lever 31, 38 or 39 because the levers 31, 33 and 39 are united by the bar 44 and thus act as a unit, and if one notch shallower than the other two is presented, the united levers can enter their respective slots only to the depth-permitted by that shallower slot.

While the foregoing description has been directed only to the operation of the dispensing slides 26a and 26], it will be understood that the other slides 26b, 26c, 26d and 26e are operated in the same manner. The arrangement of parts illustrated in the appended drawings provides for the operation of the dispensing slides in alphabetical order as the amount of movement of the lever increases. Thus, the smallest movement of the lever causes the dispensing slide 260. to operate; the next greater amount of movement of the lever 31 causes the dispensing slide 2% to operate; and so on until finally the greatest amount of movement of the lever 31 causes the dispensing slide 26 to operate. At no time do two or more dispensing slides operate at the same operation of the machine, and hence only one token is dispensed at each operation of the machine.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a vending machine, the combination comprising a plurality of token magazines having individual bottom closure means, spring means engaging said closure means and urging them to their open positions and a rotatable detent engaging said closure means and holding them in their closed positions against the action of said spring means.

2. In a vending machine, the combination comprising a plurality of token magazines having individual bottom closure means, spring means engaging said closure means and urging them to their open positions, a rotatable detent engaging said closure means and holding them in their closed positions against the action of said spring means, said rotatable detent com prising a shaft carrying a notched disk opposite each of said bottom closures, the said notched disks being positioned on said shaft with their respective notches angularly displaced from one another.

4. In a vending machine, the combination comprising a plurality of token magazines having individual bottom closure means, spring means engaging said closure means and urging them to their open positions and a rotatable detent engaging said closure means and holding them in their closed positions against the action of said spring means, said rotatable detent comprising a shaft carrying a notched disk opposite each of said bottom closures, the said notched disks being positioned on said shaft with their respective notches angularly displaced from one another, and means for rotating said detent comprising a freely rotatable notched disk and a lever having one end in engagement with said detent and the other end engageable with the notches of said notched'disk.

5. In a vending machine, the combination comprising a plurality of token magazines having individual bottom closure means, spring means engaging said closure means and urging them to their open positions and a rotatable detent engaging said closure means and holding them in their closed positions against the action of said spring means, said rotatable detent comprising a shaft carrying a notched disk opposite each of said bottom closures, the said notched disks being positioned on said shaft with their respective notches angularly displaced from one another, and means for rotating said detent comprising a freely rotatable disk having a plurality of peripheral notches of difierent depths therein and a lever having one end in engagement with said detent and the other end engageable with the notches of said freely rotatable disk.

6. In a wending machine, the combination comprising a plurality of token magazines having individual bottom closure means, spring means engaging said closure means and urging them to their open positions and a rotatable detent engaging said closure means and holding them in their closed positions against the action of said spring means, said rotatable detent comprising a shaft carrying a notched disk opposite each of said bottom closures, the said notched disks being positioned on said shaft with their respective notches angularly displaced from one another, and means for rotating said detent comprising a plurality of freely and independently rotatable disks supported coaxially, each of said disks having a plurality of peripheral notches of different depths therein and a lever having one end in engagement with said detent and the other end engageable with the notches of said freely rotatable disks.

ARDON A. BRADT. 

